The Battle of the Ladies
by Rittie
Summary: With another showcase win under belt towards her dream, Serena thought that she could relax. She didn't realize how very wrong she was until she was cradling Braixen in her arms [implied Pearlshipping and Amourshipping with Ash in the middle of two fiery girls competing for more than just his affections]
1. The Battle Of The Ladies

**Because I'm a Dawn/Hikari fan. Nough said.**

 _The Battle Of The Ladies_

"And now!" the announcer guy began to speak into his mike. "Today, ladies, we have a special guest!"

"A special guest?" Clemont, who was in the crowd with his sister and friend, turned to look at Ash, confusion visible beneath his spectacles. "Ash, do you know what he means?"

"No..." the Pokemon Master-in-the-making frowned, wondering who he could possibly mean. As he thought about that, Bonnie was looking down at Serena, who standing with the other finalists on the stage, in worry for the blonde was biting her lip. It was obvious that this was a first for her, too.

"Now then, ladies and gentlemen!" the man with the mike turned his back to the finalists as Shauna turned to stare at Serena in question, to face the crowd of people who were as confused as the girls and their Pokemon, who were crying out their names. Braixen, who was standing next to her friend, gazed at the blonde too, hoping that his out-of-the-blue development wouldn't cause her to grow nervous.

"And now, coming straight from Sinnoh, this beloved lady is the rising star in the contest world! Give a warm welcome to Dawn Berlitz!"

"Dawn!?" Ash stood up so far that he almost knocked Clemont's glasses off. After apologizing for a moment, he stared at the stage as lights of blue and white began to point at the door hidden away behind the finalists and the curtains began to rise. "How come Dawn is here!?"

"Who is she, is she your friend?" Bonnie asked, looking up at him.

"Yes but... she didn't tell me that she would..." Ash took a deep breath. "... guess she wanted it to be a surprise."

"It definately is!" Clemont fixed his glasses as the curtains were finally out of the way only to show... nothing? Even more confused than before, the boy was about to speak when a voice called out.

"The stage is yours, ESPEON!"

Rainbows began to grace the stage as the Psychic Pokemon appeared seemingly out of nowhere, being graced with them and sprinkles. Gasping, Bonnie could only gape as the Espeon gracefully landed in the center, right in front of it's trainer, who had a spark in her gorgeous blue eyes and a radiant smile on her face as she did a small twirl in her sky blue dress.

Serena just looked around as the crowd began to go wild, some of them clearly this 'Dawn's fans as they began to produce several signs with her name and what looked like her Pokemon. Whoever she was, being famous enough to be known in Kalos all the way from Sinnoh put her on an edge. She watched as Dawn and her Espeon gracefully joined the judges (the girl taking up the empty seat. She just had to wonder why it was empty to begin with), the Pokemon sitting down beside her as the announcer spoke again.

"With this surprise, the crowd has gone wild! For Dawn will be battling the winner of this showcase!"

"WHAT!?"

Shauna slowly looked at Serena, for she was the only one to react so strongly.

"You didn't know? I heard they decided to put us up against a coordinator." the brunette told her stunned friend/rival. "I just didn't think it would be Dawn Berlitz! I remember watching her contests on TV before I started my journey! She lost some but the ones she won were simply beautiful..."

Deciding to let her keep dreaming, the blonde turned back to the judge's table as the announcer kept speaking, meeting the bluenette's eyes. Suddenly, cheers erupted in the audience, causing her to realize that she has won this showcase as Shauna and another girl pushed her forward.

"I w-won?"

"Indeed you have!" the guy smiled warmly as the stage beneath their feet began to change, forming into something more battle appropriate as the other contestants yelped, falling back with Dawn and her Espeon jumping calmly onto the floor, standing across from her with a grin.

"Let's have a fun and fair battle!"

Blinking, Serena realized that she was now alone, facing the blue-eyed girl and the Pokemon. Shakily, the blonde took her place and reached for a Pokeball before Dawn spoke.

"I'm sorry, you have to use the Pokemon you used in this showcase. It's the rule for this battle."

"H-Huh? But I didn't know...!"

"That's the fun part!" Dawn winked at her. "Nobody knew which Pokemon I will be using, that was a surprise as well!" turning to the audience, she let her gaze sweep it until she found Ash and the siblings, who had been sitting near the stage to cheer Serena on. "Hey Ash, long time no see! We will be talking later!"

Something in the girl's smile as she said that made Serena see red.

She had to win this. This wasn't just about her pride over winning the showcase anymore. It was personal now.

"Braixen, let's win this!" Serena told her trusty starter as the magical fox cried out it's name and stepped in front of her, facing the Espeon. "Use Ember!"

"Brai!"

"Espeon, take it!" the Psychic Pokemon did as told before following the next order. "Quick Attack into Shadow Ball, one after another!"

"Espe!"

"What, hold on, don't ...!" but it was fruitless as her beloved starter began to get pelted by the dark balls at a fast rate. "Braixen! Hang in there!" was yelled before a fog enveloped the two Pokemon.

By the time it cleared, her Braixen was barely standing after all the somewhat super effective hits and Serena smiled. They still had a chance to win this. With the smile forming into a smirk, the blonde ordered another attack.

"Braixen, use Psybeam!"

"Not on my watch, you won't!" Dawn stated. "Espeon, jump behind Braixen and finish this! Bite, now!"

"Espeon!" Serena could only watch as the Eeveelution jumped behind, completely dodging the Psybeam that she now realized was too slow to hit the clearly fast Pokemon, biting down at her starter who began to scream in pain, visibly growing weaker as she did.

"Stop it, please! Don't hurt my Braixen anymore!"

She put a hand on her mouth, stunned that she would react this much to what should be a norm in Pokemon battles, but as she gazed, she just wanted the Espeon to stop hurting her starter. Wordlessly, Dawn waved her hand in Espeon's field of vision, causing the Eeevelution to jump back gracefully to land beside her trainer, who was staring at her opponent who was now cradling her hurt Pokemon, seemingly in tears.

"And that's showtime, folks! The winners are Dawn and her Espeon!"

The crowd began to cheer as Ash just stood, uncertain of what to do, for both girls were his friends and if he cheered on one, it would hurt the other. Sitting back down, the boy simply pulled his hat down, hoping the audience would quiet down soon.

Maybe then he would be able to ignore the situation until he would have to deal with it.

* * *

Before any fanboys begin to hate on me, I love Espeon (thats why I gave it to my favorite female companion) and Espeon can learn all those moves:

\- Quick Attack by level

\- Bite by pre-evolution

\- Shadow Ball by TM

Her fourth move is Iron Tail, just so it's known. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this quick drabble! :D


	2. And Yet You

**AN:** Just some Pearlshipping fluff (sort of) for this one. Next one might be Ash vs Dawn, we will see :D

And Yet You...

"Dawn!"

The bluenette stopped walking as her Espeon just continued towards their room and turned around to meet the chocolate eyes of the one she used to love so dearly back when they were still travelling together.

"Ash."

"I..."

"You what? I knew you were oblivious back in the day but I also doubt that you changed so much because of _her_..." Dawn walked over to him and took his cap off with a small chuckle. "... after all, does she treat you that nicely compared to me? May? Iris?"

The blackhaired teen remained silent as the girl put his cap onto her own head.

"Besides, from our battle I've figured out that she barely has any battle experience. These 'showcases' don't require her to have any. Frankly, they only sprang into existence because contests are as popular as they are. Yet, people still watch contests more because we aren't meant to just look pretty." she shook her head. "... Ash, do you love her?"

"I..."

"Because I always thought, especially after seeing you with May and Iris, that if you ever fell in love - if you ever stopped being so hard-headed - it would be with someone you could train with, someone who could help you achieve your own dream. From what I've seen of your current companions, only that blonde boy truly qualifies as I believe that he is a gym leader like Brock and Cilan." with a smile at his dumbfoded expression, Dawn went on to explain. "I'm challenging the Kalos gym leaders to battles for fun and experience. You know how I roll."

"And yet you didn't change at all..." Ash finally found his words.

"... indeed. I thought you didn't, either, but I can see that I was wrong to think that."

Before Ash could protest, Dawn leaned closer and hugged him, her eyes falling like curtains on their own accord.

"... for the Ash I knew wouldn't just sit around watching my contests all the time. At most, he would watch and train at the same time. Because that's the boy I knew and loved."

She pulled away and gave him a sad smile.

"... you changed quite a bit... and, honestly, I'm not sure if I like it so..." with a grin overtaking the sad smile, Dawn glared at him playfully. "... my next stop is Anistar City. I'm planning to challege Olympia to a battle. But before that, how about we have one for old time's sake?"

"... alright..." Ash didn't know what else to say, still flushing a bit from her hug as she turned on her heels and began to walk away. "... huh? Dawn?"

"We will meet up there." the bluenette stated loudly as she rounded the corner leading to her room. "After all, you have that girl to check up on too, don't you?" with that, Dawn was out of sight.

Ash stood there a bit longer before walking ahead towards Serena's room, wondering what just happened and why it had to happen to him.

 **\- x -**

"Serena?" the Pokemon Master to be knocked on the door, before gently opening it to see the blonde staring into the mirror with fierce eyes, Braixen's pokeball next to her. "... is it a bad time? How is Braixen?"

"Oh Ash!" she turned around and shot him a smile. "He will be alright, don't worry. That girl... you know her?"

He sweatdropped as he took a seat on one of the sofas, idly wondering if Clemont and Bonnie could just appear already and save him from his awkward tension that he only now starting to feel in the air.

"Yes... Dawn and I used to travel together through Sinnoh along with another friend of mine... are you sure you are okay?"

"Ash, I'm fine." Serena shook her head. "Dawn simply showed me that there is elegance and grace to battling too... in fact, I'm certain that she could teach me a couple of tricks so I can win more showcases! No matter how hard it gets, I will become a better trainer to my Pokemon!" the blonde nodded with a determinated expression. "So one day, we can be good enough to beat Dawn!"

"What did I get myself into...?" Ash muttered as Serena continued with her monologue, idly wondering where Dawn's room was because he wanted his cap back and why Pikachu just had to go and get ice cream with the siblings.

He had a feeling the next few weeks of his life would be ... interesting.

* * *

 **AN:** So a bit fluffy I guess? But we have Ash vs Dawn 'appointed' (so to speak) for Anistar City and, due to her loss, Serena has started to see Dawn as her rival - in more ways than one!

Stay tuned! :)


End file.
